


you used to call me on my cellular device

by chiarascura



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 16:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6247021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiarascura/pseuds/chiarascura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josephine finds Leliana's old phone number in a box when she's moving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you used to call me on my cellular device

**Author's Note:**

  * For [electricshoebox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/electricshoebox/gifts).



Josephine wiped the back of her hand across her forehead and sealed a box with her roll of packing tape, the sharp zip giving her a sense of satisfaction. She hated moving. The packing, the the dust and grime, the goodbyes to memories. Josephine had resisted it as long as she could by staying in the same apartment since her undergraduate days at Skyhold U, but Yvette needed the apartment more than she did and it was time for an upgrade.    
  
“Josie! We have to get going! We only have the truck til five!” Yvette’s piercing voice echoed through the apartment and Josephine winced. She loved her sister dearly, the only reason she was giving up her beloved apartment to her, but sometimes she wanted to strangle the girl.  
  
“I’m almost done in here,” she called back. The bedroom was almost empty; the bed, desk, dresser and most boxes packed away in the truck already. Only her bookshelf and two boxes remained, sealed and ready to be taken out to the U-Haul.  
  
Josephine lifted one and from the bottom flap, a scrap of paper fluttered to the floor. She rested the box on the shelf and leaned down to pick it up.  
  
_Leliana - 555-2834_  
  
Josephine’s mouth went dry and her stomach swooped as she looked at the familiar numbers. Memories washed over her and Josephine was transported back ten years, when Leliana handed her the scrap with a sly smirk and a “call me.”  
  
The first time Josephine punched the number into her flip phone, groundbreaking technology at the time, her hands shook and her belly roiled with nervous butterflies. As Josephine tapped the digits into her iPhone now, she felt a similar sensation but willed it away. She hadn’t seen Leliana in nine years, so there was no reason to feel nervous. Chances are the call wouldn’t even go through. Who kept a phone number for that long anyway?  
  
After four rings, someone answered. “Nightingale.” Josephine felt a shock run through her at the familiar voice.  
  
Josephine cleared her throat. “I, ah. Leliana? It’s Josephine.”  
  
The line crackled with static for a moment, and Josephine wondered if Leliana would hang up on her. “Josie? What… why are you calling me?”  
  
Josephine’s cheeks flushed hot and she covered her eyes. _What was she thinking?_ “I found your phone number in a box. I’m moving out of my apartment and I thought, well I didn’t think this would actually work.” Josephine shook her head. _This was so stupid._  
  
Silence stretched on the line. “It’s good to hear from you, Josie.” Leliana’s voice was softer, calmer than the steely tone she answered with. “I’ll be in Haven next week, if you want to catch up?”  
  
Josephine’s eyebrows flew up. “You will? I… I would love that!”  
  
She could hear the smile in Leliana’s voice and her belly fluttered again. “I am glad to hear it. I’ll text you when I arrive, we can get dinner, yes?”  
  
Josephine nodded fervently before she remembered Leliana couldn’t see her. “Of course. Now you have my number. I can’t wait!” Her face burned and she tried to rein in her enthusiasm.  
  
Leliana chuckled, that low sultry tone Josephine had once been so familiar with. “See you then, Josie.” Her phone beeped as the call disconnected and Josie stared at the blank wall for another minute in shock. Leliana would be back, and they would have dinner together.  
  
“Josie! What are you…” Yvette stomped into the room but whatever was on Josephine’s face stopped her. “What’s going on?”  
  
Josephine shook herself. “Nothing.” She tucked the scrap of paper and her phone into her back pocket and picked up the box. “I’m on my way down. Can you grab that one?”  
  
— — —

Josephine’s reflection stared back at her from the mirror. She tilted her head this way and that, hoping that it would change, that the crows feet would disappear from her eyes, that her pores would shrink, that the three grey hairs she found today would darken or just fall out. Josephine was not a vain woman, but tonight she couldn’t help catalog every change in herself in the past nine years. Since Leliana had seen her last.  
  
She sighed and put an ornamental comb in her hair, pinning it up and hiding the premature greys among her dark hair as best she could. She pressed blotting paper between her lips one last time before declaring herself beautiful and leaving the bathroom.  
  
There was no reason for her to feel so nervous. She didn’t need to impress Leliana; they were just two old friends catching up. Two former girlfriends, now basically strangers after nine years of silence, and surely Leliana had changed as well. Maybe she had a family, a husband or a wife, likely a litter of nugs every year. Josephine looked for her on Facebook earlier in the week, but found no trace of the woman. Josephine was the kind of person to have every detail planned out before she did anything, and that included knowing who she was going to meet. The uncertainty was disorienting.  
  
She tried not to fret in the cab on the way to the restaurant, but she ended up just staring at the text message from Leliana again. Her text had been brief, just the name of the place and the time.  
  
The Herald’s Rest was a popular haunt with other administrators and professors at Skyhold U, so Josephine knew what to expect when she arrived. The hostess led her to an empty table, and Josephine checked her makeup in her hand mirror one last time. She smoothed her hair and popped her lips, and as she snapped the mirror shut, she heard Leliana.  
  
“Josie?”  
  
She looked up at her name, and the breath left her chest in a rush.  
  
Leliana still took her breath away even after all these years. Her soft red hair was shorter, cut in an angled bob with a few strands falling over her face; her blue eyes crinkled at the corners with amusement; her glossy wide lips pouted in a way that, in the past, made Josephine bite and take them between her own; her cheeks were rounder and fuller, healthy and robust instead of the skinny little thing she used to be. Her clothes were tailored perfectly, a navy blazer and trousers, and a lacy white blouse underneath. He  heels gave her several inches on Josie, and everything was the pinnacle of perfection. She was still gorgeous and glorious and the freckles sprinkled across her nose were still so charming, and Josephine felt a pang of regret in her chest that threatened to swallow her whole.  
  
She stood to greet Leliana with a hug, held the woman tightly in her arms for a few long seconds. “Oh Lilli! It’s so good to see you!” Leliana relaxed in her embrace and squeezed her arms around Josephine’s back. When they each pulled away, Josephine kept her hands on Leliana’s shoulders, unable to part entirely just yet. “I can’t believe you’re here,” she said and it came out slightly more hysterical than she intended.  
  
Leliana smiled sympathetically, and squeezed Josephine’s waist.  
  
They sat across from each other, and Josephine couldn’t tear her gaze away from Leliana, seeing how the girl of her dreams grew into the woman sitting before her. “It is good to see you too, Josie. I was surprised when you called.”  
  
Josephine felt her face flush. “I don’t know what came over me. I just found your number and thought that it couldn’t possibly still work. But it did, and I should have known.” Leliana smiled and looked down into her lap before brushing her bangs out of her eyes and returning her gaze to Josephine. “So tell me what’s been going on?”  
  
“Well,” she began slowly. “I still live in Val Royeaux. I have a crisis management firm, Nightingale & Associates.” _Crisis management,_ is that what she called it? Josephine remembered her interest in intrigue and pulling strings behind the scenes, and wondered what the woman wasn’t telling her. “I keep quite busy with work, but I have two little nugs, Boulette and Schmooples II, who are quite sweet.”  
  
Josephine laughed. “Oh, how wonderful! I remember Schmooples was the sweetest little darling.” Josephine had many good memories curling up on Leliana’s couch to watch TV and Schmooples snuggling in their laps.  
  
Leliana smiled, probably remembering the same moments. “Yes, he was a darling. I miss him, sometimes. And… Haven.” Josephine’s heart fell a little, hoping Leliana was going to say you. “What about you, Josie? A little bird told me you’re Head of Marketing and Communication at Skyhold now? That’s quite impressive.”  
  
Josephine dipped her head. “Yes, thank you. It’s been quite enjoyable if time consuming. I don’t have much time to myself any longer, but it’s satisfying. I like what I do. Putting out fires and making sure things run smoothly.”  
  
Leliana looked at her with that expression, the one that felt like she was piercing through all of Josephine’s shields right to the heart of her. Josephine squirmed in her seat and thanked the Maker the server arrived at that moment.  
  
The rest of dinner was light-hearted and warm, exchanging memories of college or funny anecdotes from their current lives. Leliana carefully never mentioned a family or a lover, although Josephine couldn’t imagine the woman being truly alone. She of all people knew how secretive Leliana could be about her personal life, so Josephine did not pry.  
  
Josephine felt the red wine pleasantly buzz through her veins, and she couldn’t help the way her mind kept drifting to memories of Leliana in her bed, her pale skin against the dark sheets, writhing in pleasure, or curled up beside her in the living room, snuggled up and warm during Haven’s coldest nights, or her face lit up in laughter and any number of other expressions Josephine had grown to love. Josephine shook those thoughts out of her head to focus on the Leliana here and now.  
  
When the server took their dessert plates away, Josephine held on her wine glass, reluctant to leave. She wanted to remain here with Leliana in this moment for good, forever. “How long will you be in Haven?”  
  
“That’s actually… Right now, I’ll only be here until Monday night. I have an interview at Skyhold in the morning.” Her eyes glinted and Josephine wished she could still read the woman.  
  
Josephine almost dropped her glass. “You what? You have an interview? Here?”  
  
Leliana nodded and finished her glass of wine. “The Media and Public Relations position.”  
  
Josephine felt her jaw drop slightly. She knew the position was still open, as it had been for months now. The Media and Public Relations Manager would work with Josephine on almost every issue, putting out fires and keeping Skyhold’s image squeaky clean.  She had no idea Leliana would be interested, but it made sense. Her experience with ‘crisis management’ basically averting PR disasters would make her the ideal candidate. She could just see them now, working side by side to keep the University from any major faux pas, Josephine on the front lines and Leliana behind the scenes.    
  
It sounded almost too good to be true.  
  
Josephine sighed and pasted on a smile, masking her panic at the sudden revelation. “I can’t wait to see more of you!” She felt blood rush to her cheeks at how inadvertently forward her words came out, but Leliana only smiled at her. “Would you want to get lunch on Monday? After your interviews are done?”  
  
Leliana’s smile seemed genuine, and Josephine felt warm inside. “That would be wonderful.”  
  
They left the restaurant together and waited in the parking lot for Josephine’s cab to arrive. Leliana stood close enough for Josephine to smell her perfume, a heady mix like leather and violet, just the same as in college. The memories associated with the scent were too powerful and Josephine felt herself pulled back to their first kiss, not terribly unlike this moment now.  
  
Josephine had nervously invited Leliana to a house party thrown by Laurien and his friends. Josephine hated her brother’s friends, so she stood on the sidelines watching them carouse for most of the night until Leliana arrived. Leliana dressed to kill, with her long red hair falling down her back and tight jeans that outlined the delectable shape of her backside. Josephine lit up inside and out when she saw Leliana, and dragged her to find a drink with a wide smile. They spent the next couple hours outside on the back porch talking and learning about each other, until the liquor in Josephine’s blood gave her the liquid courage to lean in and press their mouths together.  
  
It had been blissful, Leliana’s lips soft but firm underneath hers, her long fingernails scratching along Josephine’s scalp and brushing through her thick curls, Leliana’s soft body above hers when they shifted horizontal on the patio furniture. The rest of the night was a blur of kissing and touching, until the cops appeared and busted the party for underage drinking. Josephine called Leliana the next morning and they were inseparable for the next year, until Leliana graduated and moved to Val Royeaux.  
  
Leliana’s familiar perfume was overwhelming Josephine’s restraint, and she wanted nothing more than to lean forward and see if Leliana felt the same under her, if she still tasted sweet and addictive.  
  
Leliana touched Josephine’s sleeve, and Josephine took a step forward. She looked up into Leliana’s face, felt the heat from her body…  
  
The cab honked loudly behind them, and Josephine startled. The spell that fell over them broke, and Josephine coughed as her face flushed again. “I’ll see you Monday afternoon,” she said and escaped into the cab.  
  
She turned back as it drove away and saw Leliana standing under the streetlight motionless, staring after the cab as it bumped along the uneven road.  
  
Josephine threw herself back into the seat and groaned.

— — —

Leliana got the job. Naturally, she charmed the entire hiring committee and the president of the university, graciously accepting the appointment. Less than a month later, she and Josephine had offices on the same floor and found themselves meeting at least twice a week.  
  
Josephine presented faculty and administration with unpleasant details about the budget or the necessary bureaucracy, and Leliana applied the pressure to make sure things ran smoothly.  
  
Leliana sniffed out all of the potential lawsuits waiting to happen and cleaned them up, neatly and efficiently, almost before Josephine even knew about them.  
  
It was glorious to have a partner again. Josephine didn’t know how she did this job before Leliana arrived.  
  
They got along perfectly, like puzzle pieces fitting back into place. After a few weeks, they had lunch together every day, saw each other at near-constant university events, and went to happy hour at the Singing Maiden with the others in administration occasionally.  
  
It all seemed perfect. They were friends again, they spent time together, and Josephine genuinely liked being around the woman.  
  
It was all well and good, except for Josephine’s feelings for Leliana resurging at the least opportune times.  
  
She would catch herself in a daydream as Leliana laid into some sad sack adjunct about the repercussions of dating a student, recalling the way Leliana threatened narrow-minded Chantry Sisters when they glared at the two of them crossing the campus together. They had only been dating for a few weeks and Josephine only just felt comfortable enough to hold hands in public.  An angry Sister ambushed them with an ugly sneer and called them abominations. Josephine wanted to run and hide, but Leliana’s cold fury put the woman in her place.  
  
“My hero,” Josephine had said, and thanked Leliana with a kiss.  
  
Other times, Leliana would put her lips around the rim of a beer bottle or a champagne glass and Josephine would get chills, remembering the feel of those lips on her skin. Or she would wear a dress outlining the curve of her hips and her long legs, and Josephine would excuse herself to breathe deeply in the bathroom.  
  
It was after one of the alumni-donor events that Josephine found herself drinking with Cassandra and Varric, Dean of Students and Head of the English Department. She kept replaying the vision of Leliana in her emerald evening gown, hair pinned up to reveal the slender curve of her neck, seeing her laughing and chatting with wealthy donors, imagining how she would each scrap of fabric from Leliana’s body until she squirmed beneath Josephine. 

Josephine groaned and clapped her hand over her face. “Why! She just… she’s still so _beautiful_ and _funny_ and _terrifying_ and—“ her sentence dissolved into another unhappy sound.  
  
Varric snorted from his armchair and Cassandra sighed from her perch on his lap.  
  
Josephine removed her hand to glare at them both. She had gone shot-for-shot with them and somehow they still seemed to be awfully sober while Josephine was almost to the sloppy-drunk stage of the evening.  
  
This was their ritual: after a university event, they would get together and drink away the memory of lecherous professors, their dim-witted president, and begging for donations from alumni. Tonight had not been any different, except that now they were drinking in Josephine’s new house, after a month still cluttered with half-unpacked boxes and a mish-mash of new and old furniture. The mess drove her batty, but she didn’t have the energy to finish yet.  
  
An empty bottle of West Hill Brandy and a half-full bottle of Mackay's Epic Single Malt sat on her new coffee table between where Josephine sprawled on the couch and the lovers curled around each other. The TV was playing some god-awful reality show that all three ignored as they gossiped and talked trash about their colleagues and Josephine pined deep in her soul.  
  
“Josephine,” Cassandra started, before she was interrupted by a hiccup. That made Josephine feel slightly better. “Why don’t you just tell her how you feel?”  
  
Josephine shook her head too hard, and held it between her palms to wait for the room to stop spinning. “We’re coworkers now, I don’t want to ruin our working relationship. _And_ , she might be dating someone else, and I would _never know_ , she’s always so secretive. It’s hard to think she’s not with someone, she’s just so…” Josephine whined and slumped back into the couch.  
  
“Ruffles, you can’t keep pining like this. It’s unhealthy.” Varric had no room to talk, and Josephine would have educated him on watching the Masters of Pining after each other for months, but Cassandra interrupted.  
  
“You should… you should call her!” Cassandra jumped from Varric’s lap and stumbled onto her feet. Both women started giggling in their drunkenness, but Cassandra managed to make it to the kitchen where Josephine left her phone earlier that night. Cassandra handed it to Josephine with determination. “Call her and tell her how you feel.”  
  
“I don’t know if this is,” Varric started, but Cassandra silenced him with a look. He went back to sipping from his glass and muttering beneath his breath about terrible ideas and regretting this in the morning.  
  
Josephine took the phone slowly and stared at the black screen. What did she have to lose?  
  
After three attempts, she managed to successfully unlock her phone and through the double-vision found Leliana’s number.  
  
“Josephine? Is everything alright?” Leliana sounded frantic as she picked up.  
  
“Lilli! I— yes, everything is fine.” Josephine managed to only slur her words a little bit, and felt proud.  
  
“Do you— are you drunk?”  
  
“I… yes.”  
  
“Josie,” Leliana said patiently, “why are you drunk dialing me at 3:30 in the morning?”  
  
Josephine bit her lip and thought. “I can’t remember.” She started giggling and heard Leliana sigh into the line.  
  
“Josie. Drink some water, take an ibuprofin, and go to bed.”  
  
“You take such good care of me, love.” She closed her eyes and thought about all the nights when they would drink a little too much and fall asleep wrapped around each other. Her eyes flew open. “I remember! I remembered why I called you.”  
  
Leliana made an encouraging ‘hmm.’ “What’s that.”  
  
“I wanted to say that I love you. Breaking up was terrible, and I hated it, and I wish we hadn’t. I wanted to move away with you, because I loved you, and I do love you, and you’re always so beautiful at work, just so so so beautiful, like a ginger angel, and I want to kiss every one of your freckles, and I don’t know anything about you anymore because you moved so far away, and I just.” Josephine sighed with the weight of her confession. “I wanted to tell you. That’s all.”  
  
Leliana was quiet on the other end of the line, and Josephine felt herself losing track of the conversation again, imagining Leliana in her bed, wearing soft pyjamas and her face sleep-rumpled. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Josie. Get some sleep.” The line clicked off.  
  
Josephine sighed and stared at her phone until the screen dimmed. She looked up to find Cassandra and Varric staring back at her frozen with their jaws open.  
  
“That was… wow. I didn’t know you had it in you, Ruffles.”  
  
Josephine felt her cheeks flush and groaned. Hopefully she wouldn’t remember this in the morning.  
  
— — —   
  
It was morning, and she remembered, and she _suffered_. The morning sunlight came directly through the blinds into her eyes, and her head throbbed. It was likely punishment for drunk dialing Leliana and dropping all of her own unresolved issues onto the woman.  
  
They had an amicable breakup. Leliana wanted to move to Val Royeaux for law school, and Josephine seriously considered following her. Unfortunately, her father took ill, and Josephine took a semester off to spend with her family. Leliana graduated during the time Josephine was back home, and moved without her. Josephine didn’t hold anything against her; It was just bad timing, and neither could have controlled that. Josephine pined for the entirety of her last semester, but she moved on. Skyhold U hired her as a low-level PR employee, and over the last nine years, she worked her way up until she led the department. She didn’t think of Leliana any more, until she found that scrap of paper a month ago.  
  
A knock at her front door drew Josephine from her half-asleep memories and she groaned aloud. She threw on a bathrobe and shuffled slowly to the front door, cursing to the Void whoever would wake her at… she looked to the clock. 10am. An ungodly hour for a Saturday morning.  
  
She ran a shaky hand over her hair, trying to ease the curls into less of a poof over her head, to no avail. She pulled the door open an inch, and wished the floor would open up and devour her.  
  
Leliana stood outside, looking cool and collected in her designer sunglasses, wearing a calm expression, and carrying a white paper bag and two cups of what smelled like coffee.  
  
“Lilli,” Josephine squeaked.  
  
Leliana smirked. “Care to let me in?”  
  
Josephine opened the door wider and tugged her bathrobe closer around her body. She scanned the living room with a visitor’s eye, and she grimaced. It looked an absolute mess. Half-open boxes littered the floor, three empty liquor bottles sat on their sides on the coffee table, and clothes scattered across furniture, likely from Cassandra and Varric if the snores coming from her guest room were any indication.  
  
Josephine couldn’t see Leliana’s eyes behind her sunglasses, but her head turned to take in the room. Her eyebrows turned upwards in sympathy and Josephine could only imagine what she looked like. “How are you feeling?”  
  
Josephine put a hand to her forehead. “Like shit.” Leliana chuckled and patted her on the arm.  
  
“I brought you something to help with that. Where’s your kitchen?”  
  
Josephine shut the front door and led them through the house to the kitchen, looking like even more of a wreck than the living room. “I am so sorry,” Josephine said, and meant literally everything.  
  
Leliana ignored her and started to unpack her gifts. Josephine picked up one of the cups and brought it to her nose, the coffee scent relieving some of her headache immediately. The warm caffeine tasted like heaven in her mouth. Leliana held out a croissant for her, and Josephine plucked it from Leliana’s fingers, careful not to touch her fingers. She took a bite— nutella. Her favorite.  
  
“You remembered,” she mumbled.  
  
Leliana smiled. Her sunglasses lay on the counter but Josephine couldn’t meet her eyes.  
  
Leliana stepped closer until Josephine couldn’t turn away. “Of course I remembered.” Leliana took the croissant and the coffee from her hands and placed them on the counter. Josephine folded her now-empty arms around her waist. “I wouldn’t forget something like that, Josie.”  
  
Leliana shifted closer until Josephine backed up against the counter, pinned to the spot by Leliana’s arms surrounding her and her piercing gaze once again staring into Josephine’s soul.  
  
“I miss you too, Josie.” Her voice was soft, delicate. Josephine’s arms slowly fell to her sides, and her head tilted to look into Leliana’s face. “Can we… try again?”  
  
Josephine felt like the air was punched from her lungs. “You want to?”  
  
Leliana nodded solemnly. “I thought you had moved on, too. You’re the consummate professional, and I can’t tell anymore what’s just being polite and what’s genuine affection. I’m usually so good at reading people, but with you, I can’t tell. You’re so different, and yet…” Leliana’s palm caressed Josephine’s cheek, and Josephine twisted to mouth against her open palm. Her hand rested over Leliana’s, and she nuzzled into the warmth.  
  
Leliana leaned down and kissed her, and it was everything she remembered. The familiar scent of violet and leather washed over her, enveloping Josephine in the memories overlapping with the feeling of the moment. Josephine’s hands slid to Leliana’s waist, pulling her closer until Josephine leaned heavily into the cabinets behind her. Leliana’s hands cupped Josephine’s face, holding her tenderly, like she was delicate and breakable and precious.  
  
They kissed for long minutes in the kitchen, relearning each other and reveling in the new warmth and old familiarity. Leliana pulled away to press her lips across Josephine’s cheekbone, and Josephine’s head tilted back at the sensation. Leliana’s tongue darted out to lick along the curve of her ear, and her whispered voice sent a thrill through Josephine’s body. “I believe you said something about kissing every one of my freckles… I’m going to hold you to that.”  
  
Josephine giggled and blushed, tried not to think about all the fantasies she had entertained about that specific action. She grabbed one of Leliana’s hands and laced their fingers together. “I think I can make that happen,” she said, and pulled Leliana through the house back to her bedroom. Josephine had a lot of time to make up for, and she wanted to start as soon as possible.

 

 


End file.
